Cuomo Signals No New Drilling, Pending Studies

Cuomo To Take Go-Slow Approach on Drilling

Thursday, November 11, 2010

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Governor-elect Andrew Cuomo is signalling he won't approve the use of a controversial gas drilling technique until he's seen "bona fide" studies showing it can be done safely.

Hydraulic fracturing uses water, chemicals, and sand under high pressure to open up gas deposits buried deep below the earth's crust.

Cuomo says he needs to know more before he gives the green light to fracking to tap New York State's huge underground gas reserves.

"If it were safe, if the watersheds were protected and it would create jobs, great. But you need the facts. And we don't have the facts," Cuomo said. "We have a lot of emotion, but we don't have the facts. And I would not do anything until the facts are determined by bona fide studies."

Cuomo spoke Thursday morning on WOR's John Gambling Show.

The natural gas industry argues fracking can be done safely. But there have been spills and explosions in neighboring Pennsylvania, where thousands of wells have been drilled in the past few years.

The Marcellus Shale formation, which lies beneath Pennsylvania, New York, and stretches into Ohio, is estimated to contain enough natural gas to meet the nation's energy needs for several years. But the gas is hard to obtain because it's buried in shale rock deep underground.

A number of government studies of fracking are already underway.

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Comments [7]

jim blair
from wanakena,ny

do we seize to exsist because there are risks ? Our necessity for natural resources will always involve risks.As we live and learn,however, technology continues to minimize the probibility of error. We have to decide whether or not we are going take the chances one must take to succede or live in a bubble and perish.

GOV. elect COMO, IS A WELL BALANCED PERSON , HE SAID IT BONA FIDE FACTS TO SUPPORT HORIZONTAL DRILLING IS THE DECIDING FACTOR , we are blessed with fiscal crises day in day out , also blessed with such tremendous natural appealing resources , I support the gov. in choosing the horizontal drilling , hard on all to accept , but major scientific responsible communities said it is safe , nothing political about it, DEC, EPA, DRBC,,ROYALTY CHECKS WILL BE TAXED AND SPENT IN NEW YORK WHY THE ENVY ?

Yes, that's a great thing that Cuomo wants the future of hydraulic fracturing to be determined by science. The science will move natual gas development forward in NYS. Cuomo's handlers need to do more research- that research will show that hydraulic fracturing IS CURRENTLY IN USE IN NYS, HAS BEEN IN USE FOR OVER FORTY YEARS IN NYS, AND IS SAFE.

The scientists at the NYSDEC recognize it is a safe method. They have been developing new safegaurds for higher volume hydraulic fracturing for two years. Yes, two years to make sure NYS has the most environmentally protective lawsin the nation to mitigate the added risks of higher volume.

Raise your hand if your or your family don't rely on natural gas everyday to heat, cook, or generate your electricity. No hands are raised. That's right, we all rely on it.

Ask a true environmentalist (ie Sierra Club) what the best one thing the nation can do for the betterment of the environment. Answer: move away from coal power generation to natural gas.

Have a loved one fighting terrorists in middle east? Don't be fooled, sure democracy in Irag is a good thing. Saudia Arabia is perhaps the most repressive dictatorship in the world, but they're our ally. It doesn't take a genious to figure that one out. Research the environmental record of the middle east. The US has plenty of energy right under American soil. It is in the national interest to develop shale gas.

Thank you Andrew Cuomo for showing you will and can stand up to the evils of 1% prophet makeing drilling compaines! The other 99% get nothing but higher taxes, lower property values and most importantly no useable water. Gas drilling is unregulated. Hazardous chemicals in the fracking process. Polluted drinking water end result. Air born pollutants as well. Bush/Cheney exempted drilling companies from water regulations. How is this possible? Please help NY be the first state to make an environmental statement when we need it the most. Stop any drilling please! The Delaware River is such a beautiful and important river for so many and for so many reasons. Its are country's bird nesting ground and provides 5% of the US's water supply. unfortunately it seems so many politicians only think about the job report and the economy but if we don't take care of our planet then we will have a much larger problem.

It is heartening to hear that Gov-Elect Cuomo has renewed his pledge to put people first in our state's environmental, energy and economic policies. We support him in this precautionary stance, and pray that he will also appoint and empower effective leadership to New York State's environmental and public health posts.

Too many "leaders" casually parrot drilling industry misrepresentations about this disastrous gas extraction process. It benefits only investors and a few in-state interests who seek to make a quick buck while leaving in ruin the health, livelihoods, property values, infrastructure and natural resources for the other 98% who remain here. Even many landowners who initially fell prey to Industry shills and signed off drilling rights are now organizing against drillers.

The dangers of this process are well known and proven in regions where it has moved forward. To deny these in the face of mountainous evidence is akin to drug addicts sacrificing everything of lasting value to get the next fix -- like so many hydrofracked injection wells tracking across our state waterways, fields and forests. It is self-evident that our state should not fall victim to the same downward spiral that led the Governor Jindal of LA to urge continued drilling even as the LA coast was awash in oil.

This process by design injects millions of gallons of toxin-laced water into each well; and several tens of thousands of wells are planned in NY State alone. The harm of this new type of hydrofracking is irreparable. The effects on neighboring people and properties are immediate. The downstream effects on municipal water supplies will appear soon thereafter. Even cities with filtration systems are not safe – these chemicals are not stopped by filtration.

These dangers are self-evident. That is why my organization, during a few Saturday mornings in Union Square NYC, was able to get some 4,000 letters individually signed by passing citizens urging State and Federal officials to finally issue safeguards against this practice.

I'm glad Cuomo is signaling a "go-slow" approach to horizontal hydrofracking for natural gas in the Marcellus Shale Formation. The industry has been giving all kinds of assurances about safety of the process, but why would their industry and vice-Pres. Dick Cheyney have gotten Congress to write into the 2005 Energy Policy Act, exemptions from regulation under the the Clean Air Act, the Safe Drinking Water Act, the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, the Environmental Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act, the National Environmental Policy Act, and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act?

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